Evanston aldermen Monday night approved a contract designed to provide the city with free bus shelters.
One of the bus shelter designs used by Creative Outdoor Advertising.
The 10-year contract with Creative Outdoor Advertising of America of Jupiter, Fla. calls for replacing the 13 existing bus shelters in the city and adding as many as 21 additional ones.
The new shelters, which have glass side walls, will feature an advertising panel for local businesses above the entryway.
The company will pay the city a minimum of $250 a year per shelter or 10 percent of the revenue it collects from the advertising, whichever is greater.
The company is responsible under the contract for dealing with maintenance issues, including graffiti, and for relocating the shelters if bus routes change.
A company official said it now runs bus shelter programs in about 200 communities around the country. He said the color of the shelters would match existing city street furniture.
Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, called the agreement “fabulous.” She said she’d been pushing to set up such an arrangement for years.
Alderman Judy Fiske, 1st Ward, said she wanted to make sure that three shelter locations proposed for historic districts were reviewed by the city’s Preservation Commission before those shelters were installed.
The company official said the first shelters could be installed before the end of the year, if the weather cooperates, and should be in place no later than next spring.
Related link
Bus shelter contract info
Advertising Space
I can’t express how unsightly I feel advertising kiosks are in a residential neighborhood. The miniscule revenue provided by these shelters is no compensation for the insult delivered to home owners who have to wake up each morning to a banal ad staring them in the face from their front lawn. In particular, I’m thinking of Ridge Ave. which remains primarily Residential. They will serve little purpose other than to provide gangs with a great place to leave tags.